


If These Wings Don't Fail Me

by fallingmistinthedark



Series: Slipping [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Avatar: The Last Airbender References because I can't help myself, BAMF Lance, F/M, M/M, Partners to Lovers, Secret Identities, Space Mercenary Lance, This happens in the canonverse, Written before season 3, blue paladin matt, but it's a slightly alternate reality, the slowest of burns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-08 06:33:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11640930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingmistinthedark/pseuds/fallingmistinthedark
Summary: With Matt as Voltron's new Blue Paladin, the paladins think they shouldn't take on any extra help, right? They can form Voltron and everything now, so they shouldn't need anyone else. It seems they're the only ones that think that, since the alliance sends in it's most capable mercenary. A being that they've encountered before, though they might not know it yet.-:-Meanwhile, Lance is totally not panicking about being brought onto Team Voltron for an extended amount of time when they don't know it's him.





	If These Wings Don't Fail Me

**Author's Note:**

> I realize it's been a month since I posted my last one but it doesn't feel that long to me I swear!! I recently moved and went through some family drama so I'm sorry!! I hope this installment is up to your expectations!! <3 
> 
> Title : Ain't No Grave - Hidden Citizens (cover from Johnny Cash)
> 
> ~
> 
>  
> 
> _I'll meet you anywhere..._

"Oh...," Nyma was currently laughing her ass off at him, "my," and making fun of him in between said laughter, "God!" 

"Can we please not-?" Lance started to ask, but was interrupted by more of Nyma's loud-ass laughter. He really doesn't know what else he was expecting from her. Sympathy was not in her job description, but it was almost like making fun of him as she pleased was. He would have to revise their contracts. 

"If it's any consolation, boss, she'll probably stop in a few minutes," Rolo calls from the back, where he's working on customizing Lance's sniper that the Alliance had just given him for his latest successful mission for him. Lance wasn't too good with tech, so he left that to Rolo. It turned out Rolo was more effective with weaponry than the ship. 

"If she doesn't, I will drop her out of the airlock," Lance threatens, though there isn't any real heat behind it. He needs them more than he'd like to admit. Without them, he probably would've been stuck at the Balde as an assistant on one of their more secluded bases. 

Fortunately for her, she does, much to Lance's displeasure. "An hour to the Castle, just to let out know," Nyma says as she settles down into her chair, the ship programmed to follow an exact course. Lance had been going through the mission details given to him by the Blade, since the Alliance never explained anything to _him_ , always insisting on briefing his superiors first.

But something left him confused. It didn't say anything about having to stay with them, inside the castle, now did it? Lance sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned back, before accepting his fate and opening his messaging with his superior.

R : Hey Kolivan I have a question regarding my next mission. 

Lance doesn't really expect a response immediately, but he luckily get a response in the next minute.

K : What have I told you about using my actual name over this system, Rayul?

R : yeah i forgot :/

R : but what i wanted to ask you about this upcoming mission is do i have to be in the castle??? when they don't need me???

K : Your messaging format is rather rude, you know. But I am disappointed. I wouldn't think the infamous Blue Wraith one to back down fro a challenge. 

Lance felt a surge of irritation at Kolivan's response. He wanted to reply, but it showed Kolivan as still typing. 

K : And the answer to your question is a firm no. They want you there at all times. I didn't think I had to include that in the mission brief because I thought that was just understood. Be a proper Blade and have more honor and tact than that, would you?

Lance sighed, low and deep. Of course he couldn't skirt this issue. 

R : Fine but I need a non-combat mask. That is my condition to for living on the castle. One that I can wear for everyday. 

K : Done. Though, for the record, as a comrade and one might even venture to say 'friend', I don't think you should keep hiding from them. Maybe find some way to make sure the word doesn't get out that you're back??? Just a suggestion though :/

Lance snorted at the emoticon, and the entire tone of the text. 

R : It's appreciated, K. I will keep the suggestion in mind. :D

K : Whatever you think is best, R. I have to go now though I wish you luck. 

R : Gracias.

K : You're welcome. 

Lance sighed as he started mentally preparing himself for the next few months (at best, if this goes how the Alliance think it will). 

"Half an hour," Nyma says, startling him. She gives him a look at his flinch, but doesn't comment as she goes back to her tablet. 

"Got it. I'm going to get dressed," Lance tells her, "Hey, Rolo?" Lance calls into the back, where he knows the other is, since he hasn't entered the control room. 

"Yeah?" Rolo answers, and Lance follows his voice down the hall to the alien's room, where he sits at his worktable, adjusting some of the settings on his new sniper. 

"Is everything about done? I'd like for all of the weapons stuff to be done before we get there," Lance tells him, leaning against the door. 

"Almost. Go get dressed," Rolo tells him, rolling his eyes in two different directions. Lance shudders every time he sees it. He'd tried teaching Rolo how to after Rolo had asked, but the result was that. Either way, Lance thinks it's a pretty cool thing for his species to be able to do. 

Lance doesn't have to do much to get dressed, but he does spend some time fitting the daggers into their respective places. Two in the lining of his arm armor, two in his leg armor, and a final one that goes into his boot, which is already sheathed. He doesn't want to be down a foot, after all. 

The first time Lance put all the daggers in, he counted them, and laughed at himself, wondering what Keith would think of it all. Especially because he was more of a gun man than a knife man. 

The final thing to go on was the mask, different from his Blue Wraith one, this one was the standard Galra purple glow mask. The final touch was pulling the hood in place to hide his brown hair, which had only gotten messier and longer in the time he'd been gone. 

His weapons would go into their special cases and be delivered onto the ship along with him, only being brought out when they were needed. The daggers were the only thing he'd be keeping on him at all times. 

"We're here!" Nyma calls from the front, and Rolo yells, "Weapons packed!" A second later. Lance sighs, clicking the part of his mask that turns on his voice distorter. "Alright then," Lance tells them, rolling his shoulders and stepping forward, "let's go."

>

The ship slowly comes to a stop in the castle's regular ships hangar. Forever, it seems, passes before his ship's hatch opens, and he's momentarily blinded by the light of the Altean technology lining the walls of the castle. His ship was not nearly as well lit up as this one. Most of its power was put into thrusters and firepower. 

When his eyes clear up the scene before him, his breath catches as he recognizes everyone in their Paladin armor, with Coran standing proudly in his regal attire to the Princess's right, while the rest of the Paladins are standing to her left. 

"Welcome aboard, Alliance mercenary," Allura begins as we descend the ramp to join them on the hangar's floor. I force myself not to look at Keith. I'd lose my grip on the situation as soon as I did. In fact, the flash of the red of his armor is enough to make me flinch. "My name is Princes Allura of Altea. What's your name?" She asks, ever the mediator. 

"My name is Rayul," Lance says, the name coming to him easily from months of use. Kolivan had picked the name for him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess," he recites, the voice saying it not quite sounding like his own. Though he's worn the mask enough times to faintly recognize that is what his voice sounds like with the mask now. 

"I would say the pleasure is mine, but we don't know that for sure yet, do we? I'm sure you understand," she says, and !ance nods. _You'd be surprised, Princess,_ Lance thinks but goes with, "I do, Princes, it's no matter."

She nods, straightening up even though he'd thought she was standing as tall as she could. Or maybe that was her shapeshifting just slightly to give the illusion of standing taller. "Well then, if you could all follow me this way," Allura says, stepping to the side to allow them to move through the group. The paladins, he notices, tense and their hands stray closer to their bayards. Lance steps through them without looking at anyone as Allura starts walking, leading them through the castle's pristine hallways. The paladins, follow, no doubt watching him and his crew with weariness. 

Shiro follows Allura closer than any other, even Coran. Lance smirks under his mask, pleased that they both got past their uneasiness and appear to be in a relationship. He honestly was giving it another year, but he guesses his disappearance was hard on them. Harder on them than it had been on him. 

She leads them to the hallway holding the Paladin's quarters, where she places each of them in rooms across from Hunk, Shiro, and Keith. For insurance, he realizes, to make sure the most able of all the paladins are right there in case they do turn out to be turncoats. Lance grimaces at the thought. He doesnt want to get body-slammed by any of them. But he'll keep Nyma and Rolo in line. He always has. 

His room is across from Hunk's, diagonally one away from his old room, which he watches Matt go into as all of the paladins split off and enter their own rooms. Except Shiro, who stays right next to Allura. Interesting. 

"Thank you, Princess, for your generosity," Lance says, dropping into an incomplete bow. Allura's eyes sparkle with thought when he comes back up, as if she were considering him. 

"Of course. But I do have a question to ask you," Allura says, looking to Shiro for a second. Lace nods his assent for the question. He's willing to tell her most anything. After all, he trusts her. He'd be willing to tell everyone of them (except maybe Matt) anything they wanted. Excluding his real identity. "How long have you worked with the Blade?" Her question doesn't exactly surprise him. The amount of time he's been there will give her some sort of idea of how loyal he is to them. The answer would be not very loyal to them, but extremely loyal to Voltron.

"A few months, but my parents were a part of the Rebellion. I did odd jobs for the Alliance before the Blade noticed my skills," Lance recited, 'Rayul's story Kolivan and him had come up with if anybody asked. Allura nodded, and Shiro didn't tense up at the answer, so he supposed the delivery was good enough. Rolo and Nyma kept eyeing him weirdly though, which was something they both noticed. 

"Thank you for answering my question," Allura said, leaning just a teeny bit closer to Shiro. They had arrived near the end if the awake cycle, so Lance expected the castle lights to dim any time now. "I suppose you'd like to rest now, after traveling all the way here?" Allura asked, relaxing more as I did. I nodded, turning to head into my room. My new room. Rolo and Nyma did the same, echoing how I stopped when Allura shifted her weight. 

"Anything else, Princess?" Lance asked, just to make sure. Her eyes flashed, clueing him in that yes, she did have more for them, but she shook her head, stepping back and allowing Lance the room to go through the door. "Thank you for your hospitality, Princess." 

"Of course," Allura told him, turning as Lance went though door and walking down the hall. Lance didn't take his mask off until the footsteps had faded away. 

>

His first mission with Voltron was liberating another Prison-planet. He hated these places. They were like the work camps from WW2 but worse. This time, however, the entire planet was dotted with different mining cavities, each armed to the teeth. Only ten of them were interconnected, and those were the ten Lance had been tasked with taking down, alongside Nyma and Rolo. Voltron obviously expected for them to go in together. They didn't. Rolo and Nyma were his brains behind the operation. Well, not really. He lead their operation, and worked it, but for him, they were like the 'guys in the chair' to quote his personal favorite Marvel movie. They helped him do his vigilante thing, and he got them any equipment they meet need or want.

The castle's sensors detected over thirty of these installations, filled to the brim with refugees. Most not even from the planet initially. Lance had to stop himself from flinching in disgust during their briefing. Nyma and Pidge had noticed the slight flinch from before he stopped himself, but neither had commented, though if he had to bet on it, Pidge had stored what she'd seen away for a later date. Speaking of briefing, Allura was not messing around. Shiro and Hunk had stood right beside them, with Keith slightly in front of them. However, since Lance knew he meant them no harm, and that he would be keeping Rolo and Nyma in line, the positioning didn't bother him at all. Whatever made them feel better about him being there. 

Lance was done with his ten before Voltron had even finished with half of theirs. Lance glanced tiredly down at the stack of Galra guards dead at his feet, before making his decision. He had been contemplating for at least ten minutes on whether or not he should help them finish to the symphony of the lions roaring and things exploding, muted by layers of Earth. 

"Hey, is anyone on their comms?" Lance asked, not worried about turning his voice distorter on. It was always on these days, anyways. 

"Uh, yeah, Rayul. What's up?" Shiro asked, though it was obvious he was putting more of his attention into whatever he was currently doing. 

"I've finished my part of the mission, and since my scanners are sensing that most of them aren't done yet, would you like me to infiltrate some of the others too?" Lance could faintly hear Nyma whispering _'not another thing I have to hack, I thought I was done'_. 

"Uh, yeah, sure. You can take the prison locations I'm sending your way... now," Shiro said, and Lance's sensors highlighted ten more prisons. "These have been tough to crack with just the lions. I was about to send Pidge in, but since it seems you three are done... wait you're done? With all of them? Um, wow. Sorry, back to my briefing, you three can definitely go in."

"Uh, sir. If I could add something?" Lance heard Rolo say. Lance sighed, already knowing what Rolo was up to. A lot of people they'd met, seeing as he was skinny and had weird biology, most thought Rolo and Nyma did all, if not most, of the work. The truth was, they did nothing but watch his back from the safety of their ship, or, headquarters, as it had been dubbed now. 

"Go ahead," Shiro said, sounding somewhat confused. Rolo and Nyma usually never spoke up about anything, and when they did their tones were respectful an de cautious. Rolo's clearly held a tint of annoyance just then. "I'd like to respectfully point out that L-Rayul is the only one inside the prison complex, currently. He did all of those ten himself," Rolo said, and thank GOD Rolo's accent made his R's sound more like L's most of the time because if it hadn't, Shiro would have definitely noticed the slip up. 

"What?" Shiro asked, and some of the booming momentarily stopped, it seemed, because Shiro had just become so shocked that Lance had just done all of this, by himself, in less time than Voltron, the universe's ultimate weapon, cleared ten prisons. By himself. In less time. Than Voltron, the Legendary Defender, had. Shiro sounded so goddamn confused and flabbergasted that Lance had to stop himself from laughing. It didn't do much to stop them though, and soon, they were full on laughs. It'd been a while since he could laugh at his ex-team leader. Well, not really anymore, because he was technically on the team, just not a Paladin. "Is that right?" Shiro asked, directing the question at Lance this time. 

"Yup," Lance said, "I wasn't the Alliance's most effective mercenary for nothing." 

"Jesus Christ," Lance heard Matt whisper, knowing he most likely heard the entire thing. "I'd heard stories of Rayul and I was always thought they were embellished but damn." Lance chuckled at that, starting to work his way to the top so Rolo and Nyma could pick him up and take him to his next round of prisons. 

"There's nowhere to land, Rayul, so you're going to have to run and make a jump for the open hatch," Nyma told him, his first communications since Shiro and Matt had grown quiet. He sighed irritably before replying, "That's fine," and proceeded to do so when the craft rushed at him. He rolled in, hoping minimize the impact. It worked, if only slightly. He groaned in pain as he reached to hold on to something while the hatch closed. Once it was shut, he was able to stand up, albeit wincing in pain as he did so.

"That sounded enjoyable," Pidge's voice said as he started checking to make sure none of his gear had been damaged. 

"As enjoyable as fighting in the Blade's trial," Lance told her, relaxing a bit once he'd made sure nothing had been broken. 

"That's rough, buddy," Keith's voice came over the speakers, and Lance jumped. It wasn't often Keith spoke through the comms, these days, but when it did happen, why did it always have to be serious shit or a fucking Avatar reference. Pidge started snickering and Hunk's hearty chuckles joined her. 

"I heard the same reply once when a comrade told me and our other comrades that his first girlfriend got stationed on a moon, only to die in a raid," Lance replied, not having even the slightest ability to resist it. Pidge's laughter turned into wheezing laughter, and this time Shiro joined in. "What? What is so funny?" Lance replied, struggling to resist joining them. It's better to keep up the act if he pretends he has no idea why they're laughing. It's a terrible thing, really, if it had actually happened. Though, thinking in it, it probably had happened once and here he was joking like it hadn't. 

The team hadn't been too warm during his first few days, but after he'd offhandedly cracked a joke at dinner without realizing he'd done it and the whole team had started laughing he'd become more welcome in their circle. 

"Get ready to drop, Rayul," Nyma said, interrupting the conversation. Lance sighed, face going from a wide grin to a grimace in a matter of moments. Not thirty seconds later did she open the hatch and he was forced out of the hatch, dropping steadily into the subterranean cavity prison. He panicked for a split second, as his instinct screamed at him that he was GOING TO DIE, but he pushed past that feeling and analyzed how to land okay. Spotting a Galra guard that was looking, away, he angled himself towards the guard with a quick burst of his jetpack, one he had been given by Voltron, and landed on the Galra, knocking it out with a sickening crunch. Lance winced before standing up. Quickly, Lance brought his right hand pistol out and shot it. 

If the Galra had any chance of survival before Lance had shot it, he definitely didn't now. Turning away, Lance go to work on his next round of prisons. 

What he didn't expect was to find Keith's lion sitting all the way down at the bottom of his second-to-last prison. 

"Red Paladin?" Lance asked into his comms, groaning when he didn't get a response. Looks like he was going in blind, not knowing what had happened to Keith. "Red Paladin?" Lance asked insistently, just in case he got a reply this time. He prayed that Keith would reply, since he really really hoped to God Keith hadn't gotten himself captured... or worse, killed. Lance shivered at the thought. Keith, in his mind, wasn't allowed to die until he knew who Lance really was. Or ever, for that matter. 

"Yeah? Sorry, I was just fighting and didn't want to break my concentration," Keith replied, finally, voice husky as he obviously fought to catch his breath. 

"Why are you in the prison I'm supposed to be liberating? Aren't you supposed to be with the other Paladins? Providing cover fire?" Lance asked, rushing to where Nyma had tracked the signal. Whatever he had been doing, he had ended up injured, slouching in the floor and clutching at his waist. 

"Sorry, yeah, about that, Red wanted me to come down here. I don't know why. Just that she wanted me down here," Keith replied, coughing a bit. Lance rounded the corner, coming face to face, and damn if he hadn't gotten here just now, Keith would've passed out and nobody would've known where he'd gone. 

"Red Paladin," Lance said, looking down at Keith in concern and dismay, but Keith probably couldn't see it, only hear it with how he'd said it. "Call me Keith, please," Keith said, voice fading. 

"Don't you dare, Keith. Stay with me, buddy," Lance said, rushing to keep Keith from falling onto his side. Shiro made a distressed noise, ready to inquire about Keith, but Lance, already knowing what Shiro was about to say, told them, "Keith's hurt pretty badly. There's a lot of blood. Can someone come help?" But just as Keith's eyes slid shut, a roar shook the prison they were sequestered in. The building shook as another roar tore its way through the air. Soon enough, a gaping hole appeared and there was Red, eyes bright. Lance would venture to say the eyes were filled with concern and fea and anger. Knowing Red, Lance was sure it was. Lance lifted Keith into his arms, gently, trying to keep Keith's hand on his wound. 

"Never mind, guys. Looks like Red's got us," Lance told them, as Red opened her jaws and let him step inside. He felt her rumbling all around him, the same rumble Blue had made at him right before he'd left. _Red was worried her Paladin was going to leave her, wasn't she?_ He slowly, carefully lowered himself down into Red's pilot seat, clutching Keith close to him. 

Tears started gathering in his mask until it was too much and he was forced to take it off and let it fall to the floor. He leaned forward, tucking his face into the space between Keith's shoulder and his chin, letting his tears fall freely and silently. "Don't you dare die," Lance whispered into the silence of cockpit, disconnected from any and all comms and sure Keith couldn't hear him where he was now, Lance continued, voice broken up with fear, "Please God, not before he knows I'm here." 

Red rumbled around him, as if she disapproved of how selfish he was being. Lance took a deep breath in, struggling to maintain some level of composure so he could fit his mask back on and not seem like a total mess after knowing Keith for what they thought to be a handful of days. Keith's hair tickled his chin as he pulled back, reaching for his mask. It was fully on by the time Red lowered her jaw, letting Lance stumble out. Allura took Keith when Lance held him out. They were hurrying out of the hangar before Lance could process that Keith's weight was gone. 

Red hummed behind him, surprising him. _I have faith that he will be alright now, little Blue cub,_ rang in his head, a voice that he couldn't identify as either male or female. It was smoky, and Red's eyes lit up as it continued. _Thank you for taking care of my cub._

"What?" Lance asked, and he felt the voice laugh. _I am Red, as you call me. Now take off that mask and let me see you. Blue wishes to see your face again, young one. She grieves over you, though she is aware and proud of why you left, even if she wishes you had stayed._ "Red?" Lance asked, mind struggling to understand how another lion other than his ex-lion was talking to him. This was the first time Red had ever tried contacting him. "Blue wants to see my face?" 

_Of course,_ Red intoned, a purr settling into a faint vibration at the back of his head, calming him and helping him sort through it all, _my Blue never quite lets go of her cubs, I am learning. She would welcome you back faster than you could finish your request._ Lance slowly lifted his hands to remove the mask. It feel to the floor as soon as it was lifted off, all strength Lance could muster was put into walking closer. _Though if it were me you'd have to prove yourself worthy again. Who knows where you've been?_ Red told him. He had a feeling that while she was teasing him, she was telling the truth. 

"Blue wants to see me? After everything I've put her through?" Lance asked, numb with disbelief. He'd known Blue hadn't really ever let him go, but her link had been considerably less than it had been before she'd arrived. After how she'd reacted at his last job, Lance was expecting to have to placate her somehow. Red actually nodded, the purr in his mind becoming louder. Or maybe it wasn't just in his head. He could see the handle of his blade quivering. 

_I sense someone coming now, little ocean,_ Red suddenly said, head moving towards the hangars entrance, _it is Blue's new little one, hurry, little ocean, put your mask back on,_ she told him urgently. 

The hangar door slid open and a voice other than Red's filled his ears, "Hey Rayul I thought you might need a guide back to the front deck-," Red moved her head to try and block the view of him as Matt's eyes opened, but it was too late. Matt had seen a peak, and that was enough. "Wha- you're a human! I knew that voice was too distorted to be real! Even for an alien!" 

Lance scrambled for his mask, putting it on before Matt could get around Red's head. Her purr lessened as her eyes faded and she retracted back into place. 

"Please, do not inform the other members of Voltron of this," Lance said, mustering every single shred of will he had into making his voice sound as pleading as possible. 

"Why? They've been looking for you for so fucking long, Lance," Matt said, and Lance froze up at the use of his actual name. "That's what your real name is, right? Lance? Am I right?" Lance sighed, taking his mask back off. 

"Because Lotor would start attacking the Castle again and they barely survived him before I left," Lance said, taking a deep breath before continuing. Red's purr grew louder, almost as if she was encouraging him. "You should know that better than anyone else here, Mister I'm-grateful-you-left."

"And don't even get me fucking started on why I'm here. I became their best goddamn mercenary, pushing myself day in and day out for months, all because I wanted to be able to keep helping the people I consider my space family. And don't you think I hated every second apart just as much as they did? I almost fucking killed myself trying, okay? And I begged with the Alliance, pleaded with them to reconsider where they were sending me, but they wouldn't. And now I'm here, and no I'm not trying to steal any lions for the Empire or any other ship because I was never captured. I spent my time between the Blade, the Alliance, and my ship. I am here to protect Voltron, for better or for worse, and I didn't ever want this secret of mine to get out because I am trying my damndest to protect them. So I really am begging you here to not tell them, because I couldn't handle if one of them got hurt because of me again-"

"I'll keep your secret, dude," Matt interrupted, looking back at Lance with what he ventured to call respect. "If I was in your place, I would've given up and never come near your level of dedication to this fight. I'd be living in some fairly quiet corner of the galaxy and probably would've eventually been captured." Lance stared dumbly back, unable to reply. He hadn't been expecting someone he barely knew this, but somehow, he could tell Matt was being completely honest. 

"I-uh, thanks? I guess?" Lance responded after Matt burst out laughing. 

"Sure, Tuxedo Mask, now get your mask back on and let's go to the main deck. The others are waiting," Matt said, smirking back at him. I turned, starting to reach for my mask yet again, before Matt spoke up again, "Oh, and Lance?" Matt asked. 

"Yeah?" Lance responded, fitting his mask back into his face. 

"Welcome back to Team Voltron, you can be our Sokka."

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, and there's one Sailor Moon reference! It just kind of happened lol. Let me know if you think anything was too rushed, since I feel like some things were. Also, if you find any typos, please message me on my tumblr, @move-on-bi bc I noticed a shit-ton and I probably didn't fix all of them bc my iPad's keyboard is acting up.


End file.
